It’s been nearly four months since the Baylor quarterback fracture a bone in his neck that required season-ending surgery and the senior has just been cleared by the doctors to begin workouts with his teammates as the Bears open spring practice Thursday.

“I’m probably going to go out there and be a little nervous and full of energy, but that’s just part of it,” Russell told the Sentinel. “It’s just get back to business, just like normal.”

After spending two seasons as the backup to Nick Florence (2013) and Bryce Petty (2014), Russell earned the starting role last spring. He started the first seven games, leading Baylor to a perfect 7-0 start, while tallying more than 2,500 total yards of offense with 35 total touchdowns before being injured late in the team’s 45-27 win over Iowa State.

“You work hard and you get the opportunity to play and you never want to get injured,” Russell explained. “That was something that kind of happened to me, but the team rallied around me and used my adversity to their advantage and they really overcame it.”

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Jarrett Stidham stepped into the starting role for the next three games before an injury ended his season forcing Baylor to turn to Chris Johnson to start the remaining two regular-season games. All in all, the Bears were forced to use four different players at quarterback thanks to injuries.

Baylor won just three out of its next five games including an impressive 49-38 win over North Carolina in the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando.

Despite it all, Russell believes that adversity could have a positive impact on this upcoming season.

“It just shows how resilient and how mature our team was being able to answer to a lot of adversity,” he said. “I feel like it is something we can use to our advantage this year knowing that if something does happen, we know we are going to have guys who can step up and take the role.”

Russell says he used his time away from the game to study film and try and improve his game.

“It definitely one of those deals where I was watching film, watching the mistakes and what we could have done,” he added. “We can use that for next year and avoid those situations.”

There will be other challenges this season as Baylor must replace key players on offense, defense and special teams.

“It’s going to be another deal where we have to go out and prove who we are and figure out who we are while doing so,” Russell said. “While we do that, we have to go out and play the game like we know how to play it.”

And while he most likely not sees his first contact until Baylor’s season-opener against Northwestern State on September 3, Russell is still looking forward to seeing his first real action.